BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE ANNOUNCE HUG OF THUNDER, SHARE TITLE TRACK

LISTEN TO “HUG OF THUNDER” HERE

HUG OF THUNDER OUT JULY 7 VIA ARTS & CRAFTS

TOUR DATES BEGIN MAY 23

PRE-ORDER PHYSICAL ALBUM // PRE-ORDER DIGITAL ALBUM

“Broken Social Scene - bruised, beautiful and chaotically epic...Theirs is a breathtaking display of controlled euphoria.” - The Guardian, September 2016

PHOTO CREDIT : Norman Wong // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Toronto’s Broken Social Scene recently detailed their first album in seven years, Hug Of Thunder, out July 7 on their label Arts & Crafts. Produced by Joe Chiccarelli and mixed by Shawn Everett, Hug Of Thunder includes contributions from all fifteen original members of Broken Social Scene (see full list below), as well as new guest vocalist Ariel Engle. Today, the title track of the album has been revealed via Zane Lowe’s show on Beats 1; click HERE to listen to it. “Hug Of Thunder” follows the release of the song “Halfway Home,” which the band performed to rapturous response on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at the end of March.

LISTEN TO “HUG OF THUNDER” HERE

Broken Social Scene are also thrilled to announce their first full U.S. tour since 2011.  Frightened Rabbit will support on select dates, as well The Belle Game; tour dates are listed below. For these dates, Broken Social Scene are partnering with Plus 1 so that $1 from every ticket goes towards providing access to arts education for young people in disadvantaged communities. Tickets for all the band’s headlining shows will go on sale Wednesday, May 17th, via the Broken Social Scene website. Additional dates will be announced soon.  

Hug Of Thunder is everything BSS fans love from the Canadian collective and then some, an album overflowing with glorious open chords, multi-voice harmonies, spacious psychedelia-tinted breakdowns, and more. It is a panoramic, expansive album that manages to be both epic and intimate; and like all things BSS, in troubled times, it offers a serotonin rush of positivity. Since their inception in the early Aughts, BSS have always pushed sonic boundaries while remaining reverent of a perfect chorus; almost twenty years down the line, Hug Of Thunder sharpens that balance. The record’s twelve songs refract the band’s varying emotions, methods, and techniques in ways that not only reference their other albums, but surpass them.  Hug Of Thunder is righteous but warm, angry but loving, melodic but uncompromising. And if you’ve ever fallen in love with Broken Social Scene - as many of us have - it is a perfect return that was truly worth the wait.  

PRE-ORDER PHYSICAL ALBUM // PRE-ORDER DIGITAL ALBUM

A beautiful, limited edition vinyl version of the record is also available for pre-order. It’s available in Coke bottle clear vinyl (Limited to 500, exclusive to pre-order purchases), 140g double-LP, gatefold jacket (matte UV), printed vinyl sleeves (matte UV), and a 28 page booklet with stitched spine affixed to jacket. Artwork layout and design for the vinyl were done by two-time JUNO Award-winner (and Broken Social Scene's drummer) Justin Peroff and kimikimo. LP includes the vinyl-only bonus track "Old Dead Young."

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE IS:
Kevin Drew
Brendan Canning
Charles Spearin
Justin Peroff
Andrew Whiteman
Evan Cranley
Jimmy Shaw
David French
Jason Collett
John Crossingham
Sam Goldberg
Ariel Engle
Leslie Feist
Emily Haines
Amy Millan
Lisa Lobsinger
Ohad Benchetrit

 

John Crossingham
Sam Goldberg
Ariel Engle
Leslie Feist
Emily Haines
Amy Millan
Lisa Lobsinger
Ohad Benchetrit

DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

HUG OF THUNDER TRACK LIST
1. Sol Luna
2. Halfway Home
3. Protest Song
4. Skyline
5. Stay Happy
6. Vanity Pail Kids
7. Hug Of Thunder
8. Towers and Masons
9. Victim Lover
10. Please Take Me With You
11. Gonna Get Better
12. Mouth Guards of the Apocalypse

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE TOUR DATES
05/23/17 - Manchester, United Kingdom @ Albert Hall
05/24/17 - London, United Kingdom @ Brixton Academy
05/26/17 - Neustrelitz, Germany @ Immergut Festival
05/28/17 - Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix Club
05/29/17 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
05/30/17 - Paris, France @ Alhambra
06/01/17 - Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound
06/03/17 - Toronto, Ontario @ Field Trip
06/24/17 - Pasadena, CA @ Arroyo Seco Weekend
07/21-23/17 - Edmonton, AB @ Interstellar Rodeo
08/05/17 - Montreal, Quebec @ Osheaga
08/18-20/17 - Winnipeg, MB @ Interstellar Rodeo
9/16/17 - Ithaca, NY @ State Theatre ~
9/17/17 - New York, NY @ Meadows Music & Art festival
9/19/17 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club ~
9/21/17- Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel ~
9/22/17 - Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle *
9/24/17 - St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant *
9/26/17 - Des Moines, IA @ Hoyt Sherman *
9/27/17 - Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater *
9/28/17 - St. Paul, MN @ The Palace *
9/29/17 - Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom *
9/30/17 - Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore *
10/1/17 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Byham Theater *
10/3/17 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
10/5/17 - Portland, ME @ State Theater *
10/6/17 - New Haven, CT @ College Street *
10/7/17 - Boston, MA @ House of Blues  
~ - with The Belle Game
* - with Frightened Rabbit

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE ONLINE
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM

ROYAL MOUNTAIN RECORDS TO REISSUE METZ’ BACK CATALOG

Photo Credit : David Waldman

Royal Mountain Records, home to Alvvays, Hollerado, PUP, Mac DeMarco, TUNS, and many more, are teaming up with Toronto’s METZ to reissue their past albums, both of which were long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize.

The self-titled debut, METZ, and their most recent release, II, will be reissued on Royal Mountain and will each include two bonus tracks – METZ will include songs “Dirty Shirt” and “Leave Me Out” while II adds “Can’t Understand” and “Good, Not Great” to the tracklist.

Last year METZ embarked on a worldwide headlining tour that took them from Boston to Beijing. The band continues on the road this summer beginning May 13 with more tour dates to be added in the near future.

LISTEN TO AND SHARE “ACETATE” HERE FROM II

LISTEN TO AND SHARE “WET BLANKET” HERE FROM METZ

PURCHASE METZ & II FROM ROYAL MOUNTAIN HERE

“II is another snarling beast of a record, 10 more all-lunging, all-screaming anti-anthems crammed into another chaotic, cloistered half-hour, every inch as grotty and combustible and unfriendly as its predecessor.” - PITCHFORK

“II possesses the thrills of the original but boasts a few new subtle differences to mark itself as a worthy sequel. It's a bleak listen, but there's something comforting about hearing three musicians playing punishing music as a complete unit, knowing there are few that
could do it like them.” - EXCLAIM!

“The Toronto trio’s brutal self-titled debut had an overpowering bite to it, but with its sequel, METZ II, the band files its teeth down into fangs to make it easier to rip out jugulars. This new album makes its predecessor feel downright hooky in comparison.”
- CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND

“II, like the record that preceded it, is still a seasick and unyielding document
of brutalist experimentation.” - SPIN

METZ TOUR DATES
May 13 - Seattle, WA - Pioneer Square (Upstream Festival + Summit!)
Jun 21 - Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place
Jun 22 - Columbus, OH - Basement
Jun 23 - Grand Rapids, MI - Pyramid Scheme
Jun 24 - Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
Sep 7 - Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Music Festival

METZ ONLINE
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM

ROYAL MOUNTAIN RECORDS
WEBSITE
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM

TAVIS E. TRIANCE & THE NATURAL WAY ANNOUNCE UPCOMING ALBUM

A BRIEF RESPITE FROM THE TERROR OF DYING, PRODUCED BY BRAD BARR, DUE OUT JUNE 23 VIA TONIC RECORDS

LISTEN AND SHARE “ALL YOU GOT IS PEOPLE” HERE

SUMMER TOUR DATES BEGIN JUNE 23

PHOTO CREDIT : Kris Krug // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Tavis E. Triance & The Natural Way are a multi-faceted project springing from the mind of singer songwriter Tavis E. Triance, formerly of the Royal Mountain Band and Spoon River. Due out June 23 his debut album, A Brief Respite From The Terror Of Dying, harnesses his love of themes of darkness, absurdity, and the unbridled madness of men, and imbues it with a lyricism and a swagger. Tavis's idiosyncratic vocals call to mind Bob Dylan as a tired cop in some old late night movie, Mick Jagger reeling off Randy Newman tunes, Dan Bejar as balladeer, or Cat Stevens on a quaalude binge.  

The first single “All You Got Is People” began as a “backhanded attempt to grapple with the abrupt end of a wild hurricane swell I'd been swept up in,” says Triance. “My wife and I had been living in Montreal and were finding that the accumulation of these dangerous situations did not necessarily correspond to an accumulation of danger pay. As a result, we decided to split for the sake of psychic prosperity, but the move was both a physical one and an existential one for me. Despite the chaos and sheer atavism I had been participating in, I had found an inspiring, accepting sort of family in Montreal that I'd never found previously, or since. For better or for worse I had been imbued with a feeling of being unfettered by popular opinion and this, dear reader, is a very powerful feeling, indeed. It is the backlash that occurred – call it dislocation, disambiguation, call it contrast, call it anomie, call it what you will, it is this deep and bubbling wellspring of hatred, befuddlement, and confusion from whence this song came.”

LISTEN AND SHARE “ALL YOU GOT IS PEOPLE” HERE

The tracks on A Brief Respite From The Terror Of Dying gained shape and substance in the wet haze of a west coast winter, prompting Triance to reach out to his East Coast musical contingent. The wildly talented Brad Barr (The Barr Brothers) produced and participated in the recording of what would quickly become a cross continental album. Other friends were asked for their ideas and for their input and still other friends came on board.

Joining Triance in studio was Jeffrey Louch (The Royal Mountain Band, Spoon River), piloting what can only be described as a cockpit of vintage synth sounds; the indomitable Jason Kent (The Dears, Kandle, The Crooks) bringing his ear for arrangement and sun kissed harmony; and Seamus Cowan (Spoon River, The High Dials) teamed up with Mark “Bucky” Wheaton (Land Of Talk, Little Scream, Luyas) keeping rhythm and low end glued to the floorboards.

Naturally, these players helped to fully realize Tavis E. Triance & The Natural Way, lending Triance's songs a musicality and orchestration that call to mind Steely Dan playing songs from B-side Bad Finger or Pink Floyd cataloguing tunes from Tonight’s The Night.

Tavis Triance founded Spoon River in 2008 as a way of ‘getting back on the horse’ after the sudden, acrimonious split of The Royal Mountain Band, his up-and-coming Montreal outfit with a cult following. During a brush with the big screen, Triance appeared as Rick Danko in I’m Not There, the Todd Haynes 2007 biopic about Bob Dylan.

 

DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

A BRIEF RESPITE FROM THE TERROR OF DYING TRACKLIST
All You Got Is People
Uncle Elsewhere
Ok, What Next?
Queen
Bye-Bye To The Wicked One
Shoot Out The Eyes Of The Sun
If Beauty Were My Bluebird
Sailin
Terrible Beauty (Really Ain’t All That Fun)
Red Eyes Of Sorrow

TAVIS E. TRIANCE & THE NATURAL WAY TOUR DATES
Jun 23 - Port Renfrew, BC - Tall Tree Music Festival
Jun 24 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret
Jul 5 - Calgary, AB - Palomino
Jul 7-9 - Winnipeg, MB - Winnipeg Folk Festival
Jul 12 - Edmonton, AB - The Black Dog
Jul 14-15 - Ness Creek, SK - Ness Creek Festival

TAVIS E. TRIANCE & THE NATURAL WAY ONLINE
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM

TONIC RECORDS